1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and a method for transferring a financial transaction account of an account holder from one type of account to another type of account based on changes in the account holder's life. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and a method for using date-based triggers to transfer the account holder's financial transaction account.
2. Related Art
Consumers very often use financial transaction instruments as convenient forms of payment for purchases of goods and/or services (“goods/services”). A “financial transaction instrument,” also referred to herein as a “card,” may be any of the following: a traditional “plastic” transaction card (e.g., a credit card, a charge card, a debit card, a gift card, a pre-paid or stored-value card, or the like); a titanium-containing, or other metal-containing, transaction card; a clear or translucent transaction card; a foldable or otherwise unconventionally-sized transaction card; a radio-frequency-enabled transaction card; or any other type of card used in connection with a financial transaction.
A financial transaction instrument may be configured with electronic functionality. For example, such an instrument can have electronic circuitry that is printed or otherwise incorporated onto or within it (commonly being referred to as a “smart card”), or may be a fob-type device having a transponder and a radio-frequency identification (“RFID”) reader. Additionally, a financial transaction instrument may be magnetically encoded with information, such as through use of a magnetic stripe, for example. Optionally, a financial transaction instrument may include a visible card identification number (“CID”) uniquely identifying a corresponding transaction account, in case the transaction instrument cannot easily be read electronically or magnetically.
A “transaction account,” as used herein, refers to an account associated with an open-account system or a closed-account system, which are discussed in more detail below. A transaction account may exist in a physical or a non-physical embodiment. For example, a transaction account may be distributed in a non-physical embodiment such as an account number, a frequent-flyer account, a telephone calling account, or the like. Furthermore, a physical embodiment of a transaction account may be distributed as a financial transaction instrument.
“Open cards” are financial transaction instruments associated with an open-account system and generally are accepted by different merchants. Examples of open cards include the American Express®, Visa®, MasterCard®, and Discover® cards, which may be used at many different retailers and other businesses. In contrast, “closed cards” are financial transaction instruments associated with a closed-account system and may be restricted to use in a particular store, a particular chain of stores, or a collection of affiliated stores. One example of a closed card is a pre-paid gift card for The Gap®, which typically is purchased at and may only be accepted at The Gap® stores. Note, however, that pre-paid gift cards, also known as stored-value cards, are not limited to closed cards but instead may be open cards issued by, for example, American Express®, Visa®, Discover®, MasterCard®, or the like.
Generally, a merchant that wants to provide customers with the option to pay for goods/services with a particular type of open card will enter into an agreement with the issuer of that type of card (e.g., American Express®, Visa®, Discover®, MasterCard®, or the like). The issuer typically is a financial organization (e.g., American Express®, JPMorgan Chase, MBNA®, Citibank®, or the like) whose card-issuing activities are government regulated.
Because of the wide use of cards by consumers, the types and number of merchants that accept cards has grown and now include, in addition to the more traditional merchants such as stores and restaurants, taxi drivers, doctors, schools, street vendors, on-line vendors, and government agencies, to name a few. Through the use of cards, merchants are able to obtain prompt payment for the purchased goods/services.
Issuers have a financial incentive to contract with as many merchants as possible to accept their cards. Typically, an issuer is paid a so-called “discount rate” by each merchant signed up to accept payment using the issuer's type of card. The discount rate may be, for example, a flat rate paid periodically or a rate based on the merchant's net sales that are paid for using the issuer's type of card.
In order to convince merchants to accept its card, an issuer may provide the merchants with assistance with the set-up process, at no cost to the merchants. The set-up process may include: providing the merchants with point-of-sale (“POS”) devices, including hardware and software for reading cards; providing training to employees of the merchants as to how to use the POS devices; providing communication equipment and establishing communication procedures for obtaining quick payment authorizations; and troubleshooting services.
Merchants often form agreements with issuers to jointly develop and/or market financial transaction instruments, such as “branded” cards, “consumer-category” cards, etc. A branded card is a card that bears both the merchant's and the issuer's names, and can be used to pay for purchases wherever the issuer's type of card is accepted. The account holder of a branded card may receive benefits according to how the card is used. An example of this type of card is the American Express® Costco® Cash Rebate Card, which generally can be used like any American Express® Card, and which gives its account holder a cash rebate for purchases made with the card at Costco® stores. Another example of this type of card is the Chase Continental MasterCard® card, which generally can be used like any MasterCard® card, and which gives its account holder Continental Airlines frequent-flier miles for purchases made with the card.
A consumer-category card is a card directed to a particular consumer category, and can be used to pay for purchases wherever the issuer's type of card is accepted. The account holder of a consumer-category card may receive benefits for establishing an account with the issuer (i.e., acquiring a card), and also may receive special offers that are particularly relevant to consumers of that category. An example of this type of card is the Discover® Card KinderCare® Offer, which generally can be used like any Discover® card, and which gives its account holder a cash bonus for establishing the account. In this example, the consumer category of the account holder is “parent/guardian of young child(ren),” and the merchant (i.e., KinderCare®) and/or the issuer may provide the account holder with special offers that are of particular interest to that category of consumer, such as rebates on daycare fees paid for with the card, discounts on toys, merchandise previews for children's clothing, news bulletins on childhood diseases, fact sheets on nutrition, and/or the like.
One consideration for issuers of consumer-category cards is what to do when account holders no longer belong to the particular consumer categories of their cards. In the case of the above example, special offers that may be of interest to parents/guardians of young children may not be of any interest once the children grow up. The issuers, however, do not have an easy way of knowing when their account holders have moved on from their original categories. Therefore, the issuers continue to spend a great deal of money to promote special offers to account holders who no longer may be interested in the goods/services of those offers.
Given the foregoing, what is needed is a system, a method, and a computer program product for quickly and easily determining a current category or status of a consumer and transferring or migrating the consumer to another category or status if it is determined that the current category or status is no longer valid.